Surface modification of anode substrate via nano-powder slurry spin coating for the thin film electrolyte of solid oxide fuel cell

Abstract

The feasibility of employing a NiO-yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) nano-powder slurry spin coating (NSC) to fabricate a thin film (<= 1 mu m) electrolyte solid oxide fuel cell (TF-SOFC) on a relatively rough surface of the support is investigated in this study. The NiO-YSZ nano-powder with similar to 200 nm particle size was synthesized by a single-step glycine nitrate process and super-apex milling. Through varying the NiO-YSZ nano-powder slurry condition by changing polymeric additives, a leveled surface of the spin coated layer which enabled to overcome the surface roughness of the bulk ceramic processed anode substrate was obtained. On the NSC layer, TF-SOFC components with flat profiles could be fabricated using pulsed laser deposition. A stable open circuit voltage of 1.04 V was obtained with these thin film components on an anode support with a rough surface. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.